| PROFILE: Tenacity is the word for tireless, Ananilea Nkya | Send to a friend |
| Wednesday, 10 March 2010 12:24 |
 By Ray NaluyagaAnanilea Nkya is a journalist and the Executive Director of Tanzania Media Women Organization (TAMWA). She is described as one of the leading, and most outspoken, feminists in Tanzania. Being cited in more than 5 languages (Swedish, Dutch, German, English, Italian and Swahili) she is seen upon as a strong voice who will not hold back in the advocacy of gender equality whether the issue is related to sexual harassment, FMG, media coverage or political appointments. On March 2, 2010 U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, Alfonso E. Lenhardt presented the 2010 Tanzanian Woman of Courage award to Ananilea Nkya for her efforts to promote equality, opportunity, and justice for Tanzanian women and girls. According to a statement from the embassy, Nkya has been a leading advocate for women's advancement through awareness-raising and judicial reform for over 20 years. She started working as journalist at Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam (RTD) as a curb reporter in 1982 soon after completing Advanced Secondary Education. By the time she I joined TAMWA towards the end of 2001, she had risen to the rank of News Sub Editor at RTD and producer of a famous women’s rights programme, MWANGAZA. She has a strong conviction that journalism is the only noble profession in the world, that it is the only profession which can transform the world to be a better place for all people. “In fact I believe that there is no job ever which can make a different to majority of people without combining it with the media activities,” she asserts. Her motivation to become an activist for women’s rights is the belief that women and men are equal partners in development, and that true development can not happen if one partner has an upper hand on the other. In 1987, she teamed up with 11 other women journalists to form TAMWA as a tool to fight for women’s and children’s rights through the use of media. Two decades of TAMWA, the Association which she has been leading in the last Six years has been instrumental in influencing policy change including Enactment of the country’s Sexual Offence Special Provision Act (SOSPA) 1998. The law for the first time criminalized FGM and increased the punishment of rapists to 30 years in jail and life sentence for gang rape and raping minors. She also believes that no matter how a country might have attained economic progress if women dignity and rights are not respected, from women perspective, such development is questionable. She holds: MA in Journalism Cardiff, UK 1992, BA in Development Studies Kimmege, Ireland 2008 (First Class), Diploma in Journalism, Tanzania School of Journalism,1986. In 1986, she received the Prime Minister’s award for Best Female Student and Best Dissertation for Diploma in Journalism, at Tanzania School of Journalism (TSJ). She has also been appointed member of Board of Directors Tanzania Broadcasting Services 2001-2003 Appointed Commissioner of Tanzania Commission of AIDS 2008-2011 Married and a mother of three, Ananilea has a passion for playing volleyball, watching news and facilitating rural development. Her passion of facilitating rural development has taken her to start a project of mobilizing villagers to build bricks houses, a project that has seen more than 60 households at Mwarazi village in Morogoro region replacing their mud thatched houses to bricks and iron sheet roofed houses. She did that through living with the villagers for a couple of days and forming committees/groups to help one another. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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